Thursday, February 10, 2005

Truth, Stranger Than Fiction

Elliott Abrams, who pleaded guilty in 1991 to withholding information from Congress in the Iran-contra affair, was promoted to deputy national security adviser to President Bush.Abrams, who previously was in charge of Middle East affairs, will be responsible for pushing Bush's strategy for advancing democracy.

"Our military strength and willingness to use it will remain a key factor in our ability to promote peace," Abrams wrote in a book for the Project for the New American Century. "Strengthening Israel, our major ally in the region, should be a central core of US Middle East Policy." Such obvious favoritism prompted the Palestinians to request anyone other than Abrams in diplomatic meetings.

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Elliott Abrams, who pleaded guilty in 1991 to withholding information from Congress in the Iran-contra affair, was promoted to deputy national security adviser to President Bush.

Abrams, who previously was in charge of Middle East affairs, will be responsible for pushing Bush's strategy for advancing democracy.

The White House also announced yesterday that Faryar Shirzad, a deputy national security adviser for international economic affairs, will take on added responsibilities for humanitarian affairs, stabilization and reconstruction efforts.

Prior to joining the NSC staff, Shirzad was assistant secretary for import administration at the Commerce Department. Before that, he was the lead coordinator of international trade policy for the Bush-Cheney transition team.

The White House had earlier tapped J.D. Crouch, the U.S. ambassador to Romania, for the No. 2 job at the National Security Council, under national security adviser Stephen J. Hadley.

Abrams has served as special assistant to the president and senior director for Near East and North African affairs since December 2002. He will continue work on Israeli-Palestinian affairs in concert with Hadley and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

Abrams's 1991 plea stemmed from the congressional inquiry into the Iran-contra affair during President Ronald Reagan's administration. On Oct. 10, 1986, Abrams, then a State Department employee, testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that he did not know that Marine Lt. Col. Oliver North was directing illegal arms sales to Iran and diverting the proceeds to assist the Nicaraguan contras.

Abrams was pardoned by Bush's father, President George H.W. Bush.

His name surfaced last year as part of the investigation into who leaked the name of a CIA operative whose husband publicly disputed Bush administration claims that Iraq tried to buy uranium in Africa. White House spokesman Scott McClellan has said that Abrams denied responsibility.

The Washington Post headline was straight out of The Onion: "Iran-Contra Figure to Lead Democracy Efforts Abroad." They were writing about Elliott Abrams. With a straight face. Further proof that under the Bush Administration truth is stranger than fiction.

Abrams was convicted in 1991 for lying to Congress about his role in trading profits from illegal arm sales to Iran for aid the Contras, who were trying to topple the Sandanista government in Nicaragua. As Ronald Reagan's Latin America hand, Abrams flew to London under the pseudonym "Mr. Kenilworth" to extract $10 million for the Contras from the Sultan of Brunei.

A pardon by Bush 41 saved Abrams from prison time, and a job as the National Security Council's director for Near East and North African affairs resurrected his career. The NSC post conveniently did not require Congressional approval, as late Washington Post columnist Mary McGrory explained in 2001: "Members of Congress remember Abrams's snarling at committee hearings, defending death squads and dictators, denying massacres, lying about illegal US activities in support of the Nicaraguan contras. Abrams sneered at his critics for their blindness and naivete, or called them 'vipers.'"

Abrams only qualifications for the new gig were his opposition to the Madrid and Oslo peace processes and long-standing faith in Ariel Sharon. In Bush's first term, Abrams quietly pushed policy as Condi Rice's Middle East point man. Now, with two directorates under his control, Abrams will assume a larger role, as Bush mandates democracy abroad and re-engages in the Middle East peace process.

On both counts, the presence of Abrams is not encouraging. "Our military strength and willingness to use it will remain a key factor in our ability to promote peace," Abrams wrote in a book for the Project for the New American Century. "Strengthening Israel, our major ally in the region, should be a central core of US Middle East Policy." Such obvious favoritism prompted the Palestinians to request anyone other than Abrams in diplomatic meetings. With Abbas and Sharon finally meeting face-to-face, Abrams's opposition to "land-for-peace" could sidetrack an otherwise promising moment for peace talks. Bush clearly trusts Abrams's ideology and shares his democracy-at-gunpoint philosophy.

During Bush's first term, at least Abrams's activities were largely limited to Israel-Palestine. Now, as democracy's global ambassador, the "Neocon's Neocon" has the whole world in his hands.